Social media ups and downs for Super Bowl advertisers
Coke took a beating for a multilingual, patriotic ad, and Honda earned some ribbing with its ad calling the blowout a ‘great game.’ Other brands fared a little better.
• “Your New World Order commerical [sic] on the Super Bowl STINKS. No more Coke for me!” • “I was insulted by your Super Bowl ad using multi language singing of ‘America.’ Our country is an ‘English’ speaking country. I’ll buy Pepsi.” • “I will never by Coke again! I’m an American and am furious at the commercial that ran yesterday!”
The Super Bowl ad that spurred these instant boycotts was this one, which featured singers belting out “America the Beautiful” in different languages: Of course, Coke has been promoting multiculturalism in its ads for decades. Singers wanted to buy the world a Coke in 1971, after all. Still, something about this ad touched a nerve with a specific segment of its Facebook fandom. Some, of course, came to the ad’s defense, calling it beautiful and inspiring. For some, drinking a Coke instantly became a political stand. “I just cracked open a can of coke this morning in honor of diversity!” one commenter said. Wrong turn Honda didn’t set off any political debates with its ad promoting road safety (and hugging), but it did earn some Twitter ridicule when actor Bruce Willis opened the third-quarter-airing ad with, “Great game, right?” At that point, the contest was already a blowout.
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